Befallen Madness
by Attingere
Summary: A series of Alice in Wonderland drabbles. 'If the Rabbit wasn't such a loyal subject, he would think the Queen mad'. Covers Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, her imagined descent into madness, and the Rabbit's struggles with loyalty.
1. A Very Important Date

"Oh my fur and whiskers. I'm late! I'm late!"

I was supposed to be there, time had flown and I wasn't there- I was supposed to be! No time for talking! Why is she following? By the Queen! Oh, the Queen! The Queen- she will take my head! There's no time for chatter! I clutch to my golden pocket watch. Time; always running. Always running out. Running away. She keeps along, mincing along with questions pouring out of her mouth.

"Mr. Rabbit?" she calls as I fly past the fallen log. I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date.


	2. Among the Mad

"But I don't want to go among mad people," the girl said. I languorously arched my back.

"Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" A second's pause. I couldn't tell from her dress or shoes if she was mad, the madness might be embedded quite deep, just waiting for a way to climb out. But she didn't look mad, and even though I really couldn't tell, her eyes were clear and bright and voice sweet.

"You must be. Else you wouldn't be here." Everyone who's here is mad.


	3. Vulgar Paint

The Queen chose to be mad.

Playacting with a scepter of spades and a hat of hearts, controlled marching diamonds and cloves, trembling gardens full of red roses. The Card Queen had chosen her course of insanity, and walked it as if strolling down a lane, and now-

Now it showed in her hair, wispy tendrils blowing against the winds, with the winds,

Her eyes, lucid and probing, then flashing unnatural anger

Her mouth, high and pinched, then slack and gluttonous.

The madness was ingrained quite deep, thought the cat, even more so than those who had accidentally befallen madness.


	4. Wilted Red

The crimson paint leeched into white petals of the garden. Brushes wielded by the long arms hurriedly splashed paint on pale roses. A drop landed on a blade of grass, the round leaf on the hedge, on the nose of another agitated worker. The cards held their uniform ranks, singing a mournful dirge for the roses, that would soon be dead, painted petals blown to the winds.

If the Rabbit wasn't such a loyal subject, he would have thought the whole affair was a pity, a shame, a scandal.

If he wasn't so loyal, he would think the Queen mad!


	5. It's Not Madness

The Rabbit tried to console the sobbing creature the Queen cast off after the disastrous game of croquet. "It's n-not at all bad," he anxiously reassured her. "Everyone l-loses sometime."

"It's not thaaat!" She wailed, burying herself in his waistcoat. The Rabbit fumbled in his pockets for a handkerchief. "I want to wake _up_!"

"But, my dear, ah- child, you are already awake!"

She looked up at the Rabbit with blue teary eyes. "No- this is just a dream! A crazy, odd, strange, unusual, daydream!"

A forced chuckle. "Dear, you are just as mad as the Quee- as a teapot."


	6. How Wonderland Went

Nanny said the twitchy Rabbit and the mad Queen of Cards and the smiling Cat were only figments, little pieces of her dreams, but she was sure they did exist somewhere besides her mind.

The tree's branches above her looked like the tree the Cat sat in, when the Cat asked if she was mad. Knobs and swirls in the trunk formed just the same pattern in the log the Rabbit jumped over-

Nanny was right! They were in pieces! All that remained was to put the figments together again.

Closing her eyes in concentration, Alice remembered how Wonderland went.


	7. That's What the Rabbit Said

"Cup of tea, miss." Tea and scones were trundled on a tarnished platter. "You need to eat something."

"No, I don't." The bow mouth disagreed. "I don't need to eat anything, ever!" The ladies tittered at the amusing comments of youth.

"If you didn't eat you should surely starve!" Nanny declared with matronly patience.

"You can't starve in a dream! When I wake up, I'll surely be hungry, but isn't it a waste of time, eating in a dream?"

"Miss, we're all real. Eat your bread. You aren't dreaming- you're wide awake!"

A confidential whisper: "That's what the Rabbit said."


	8. Epilouge: The Hounds and the Rabbit

Hounds chased the hare across the grassy knolls of the manor grounds. Horsemen followed the braying dogs, hooves pounding the loose turf, keeping a breakneck pace through the trees and brush. White fur was smeared with loose leaves and dirt, a badge of the chase.

The rabbit, running with great alacrity, curved in a path back to the manor. Alice heard the hounds braying grow closer, instead of farther, saw the horse's long legs, even in the distance, wheel. Excited shouts bellowed from the mustached men, reins and riding crops slapped against their poor beasts. Through the window, Alice watched.

Rabbit feer bounded through the bushes that separated the Manor grounds from the wild moorland. It leapt over a log right in front of the clear pane of glass, and glistening eyes shone. She remembered with a sudden intensity, the Rabbit, his stuttering words of comfort, his pocket-watch and handkerchief extended to her use.

A hound was hot on the heels of the rabbit, and with a sudden lunge, pitched its teeth into its white fur. With a spasm of pain, the rabbit fell into the gravel drive. Eyes behind the glass widened and cheeks paled with a shocked gasp.


End file.
